Monday, March 31, 2014

I have made felt birthday crowns in the past, for Audrey and her cousin, and a couple nephews. I love celebrating a birthday girl or boy with a crown. (I've made a flower crown too, now that I think about it!) And it's a great keepsake too. So I thought a DIY birthday crown was in order for Scarlett!

It had to be a rainbow crown of course since she was having a rainbow birthday party. I came up with this rainbow and clouds design on a blue background. And I included Scarlett's initial in the middle so there was no mistaking it was made especially for her.

I think it worked perfectly! I've got a free template/pattern and tutorial here if you'd like to make a rainbow crown too. Click through for the details.

Monday, March 24, 2014

Spring is officially here, which means summer is just around the corner, and that is why I love this little madras Winnie Shrug sewn by one of my pattern testers, Robyn. I wouldn't have thought of this fabric but it is darling, especially layered over the chambray blouse.

I'm sharing more great versions of this new pattern sewn by my testers after the jump.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Scarlett's Rainbow Art Birthday Party wouldn't be a rainbow party without a rainbow cake! I love the rainbow and ombre layered cakes with tinted batter and frosting but I opted for colored candies in rainbow stripes. I used Sixlets purchased in bulk from a local party store and Scarlett was super thrilled about it! She told me over and over again how much she loved her cake!

The cake itself is an almond buttermilk cake with almond flavored buttercream frosting. Definitely over the top and yummy in a rather mind-blowing way, if you are into almond, which I am! I formed the number "5" on top It was definitely a highlight of the party.

I'm not sure you need it, but I've got a bit of a how-to for making a rainbow cake, and the recipes, after the jump.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Happy St. Patrick's Day. I would exclamation point that, but to be honest, I don't feel all that excited about it. Not trying to be a spoil sport. I just find I can't celebrate all holidays equally. My girls on the other hand... They were very easily amused with some of the mischief they discovered in our house this morning. Crazy Leprechauns. And we did share some corned beef yesterday with family. And we made green rice krispie treats. That ought to be enough I think!

The holiday seems like a good excuse to share this printable though! A rainbow birthday party invitation. I made it for Scarlett's Rainbow Art Birthday Party last year, but it was late enough in the season I thought I'd wait for this Spring to share it. So get ready for some rainbow posts.

You can find this free 4x6 printable here on Google drive. It's a PDF, with a backside you can edit with your party details in Adobe Reader. (The front text can't be edited in Reader--too tricky with the color and font changes--but if you have the skills you could do some pasting over with a graphics program.) Then take it to a local printshop, print double-sided, and trim.

This little piece is simple to sew and simple to wear. It's a great piece for transitional weather and layering any time of the year other than the hottest months. It closes with one over-sized button and stands straight up off the shoulders, framing your sweet girl’s face with a bit of drama. Make it out of some of your favorite fabrics--cozy boiled wool (such as this light blue variety I purchased here), a sweatshirt knit or even shearling.

Keep it simple, line it with a contrasting fabric (such as this Heather Ross Briar Rose Jersey), add a seam in back, or make it reversible. Whichever way, she’ll make it her own.

The Winnie Shrug is a 31 page PDF file with full photo tutorials for each of the options, but you only need to print the 5 pattern pages. This pattern was tested in the USA, Canada, Europe and Australia and is fit to print on letter-sized or A4 paper.

has been heavily tested by seamstresses of a variety of sewing levels.

My great testers unanimously agreed it was a very easy piece to sew with professionaly looking results!

The pattern includes sizes 3-6 months, 6-12 months, 12-18 months, 18months-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8 and 9-10 years and I've included all pattern specifications in the traditional English units (yards and inches) as well as metric units (meters and centimeters)--hooray! I've also got a section called "Fit Tips" for extra advice on getting the perfect fit.

The pattern includes options for sewing:

The Winnie Shrug

Seamed Winnie Shrug

Lined Winnie Shrug

Reversible Winnie Shrug

I have posted about The Winnie Shrug quite a few times before. Scarlett is wearing a teal boiled wool version above with her peacock Skater Dress (from her Halloween costume), but she also wore this in a Winter Wonderland ensemble you can view here.

The very first Winnie Shrug was part of a Once Upon a Thread post. You can view it here and find the original tutorial for an unlined baby sized shrug (with hand drafted pattern for what would be a size 6-12 months in the new digitally drafted pattern).

You can also view a shearling version on Audrey here, and another boiled wool Winnie Shrug appearing in Audrey's "R" outfit (with the blouse version of the upcoming Romantic Dress) here.

I hope The Winnie Shrug will fill a gap in your little girl's wardrobe! You can purchase it in my Etsy shop here.

Monday, March 3, 2014

Last year sometime I was searching for a fabric with photo realistic reproductions of flowers, which is not easy to do. Hard to get the search terms right! I am sure there are many fabrics out there that would have fit the bill, but they aren't described in a way I could find them.... But in this Etsy shop I found this amazing looking knit! It wasn't exactly what I was looking for (and it's polyester!), but I fell for it. And promptly ordered it!

And then I needed to decide what to do with it! I think it would look fantastic in a dress for one of my girls--or myself! But I decided to start out with a simple Bateau Neck Top for this little girl.

It's so not simple, right? The top pattern is--but this fabric gives it such drama! Beauty and spunk. Kind of like her!

I had forgotten how quick it is to sew up a Bateau Neck Top. Such a big payoff in a short evening! And even better--I have fabric left. What do do next...?

(Oh, and speaking of Bateau Neck Tops, did you see the darling one Jess just sewed and shared? Check it out here on CINO. I love it!